Idiot Magnet
by beruichi
Summary: For some reason, idiots seem to enjoy congregating around Gokudera Hayato. This fact becomes even more evident after one Halloween night.


**Author's Note:** Written for the LJ community khr_halloween exchange using lindenmae's prompt. Story is set after they returned from the future, without the Simon family's appearance.

* * *

><p>"No, I don't believe in ghosts," Gokudera answers plainly, the annoyance evident in his voice. "Now stop your useless blabber and help me out here."<p>

Yamamoto laughs, but obliges. He approaches the Italian, who is busily scrubbing his hair rather vigorously. He gives him the shampoo bottle and motions for the shorter boy to hand over the shower head, who complies. He continues talking.

"Ehhh... but don't you believe in those U.M.A.s, too? Why not ghosts?"

"Don't you dare lump those two together!" Gokudera looks up from between his wet, fussy hair to glare at the taller boy.

"U.M.A.s are higher beings incomparable to us humans, while ghosts are simply figments of the imagination of stupid people like you," he explains with conviction, earning him a chuckle from the other boy. He glares even harder, then promptly returns to washing his hair. He squeezes the bottle empty and proceeds to lather it on his scalp, rubbing so furiously that the other boy begins to worry that at he might just turn himself bald.

"Shit, it's not coming off at all," he curses in defeat as he rinses his hair off. He inspects his hair as Yamamoto carefully dries it off with a towel. He frowns. "That god-damned Bucking Horse owes me big for this."

"Now, now, Gokudera. You know that was just an accident," Yamamoto offers in an attempt to calm the bomber down.

"Accident, my ass. What kind of fucking idiot trips on a fucking page of newspaper?" He snaps as though the one before him was the one at fault. "That guy is completely useless, I still can't believe he's the boss of the Cavallone family."

"Haha, you know he's only like that when his subordinates aren't around," the Japanese says, still trying to appease the other boy's anger. "And well, I guess it's partly my fault for asking him to bring the paint over without checking first if Romario is in the room. I'm sorry, okay?" He smiles softly, while gently caressing the Italian's head. He slowly wraps his arms around the shorter boy and lightly plants a kiss on his forehead, before repeating himself, "I'm sorry."

"Tch." Gokudera could feel the warmth rising to his cheeks. He offers no attempt to free himself from the embrace, much to the taller boy's delight. They stay like that for a good couple of minutes until Gokudera finally squirms himself loose and speaks up. "Don't apologize, you idiot. I don't blame you at all. It's not your fault that my hair and clothes are completely red, you know."

"Ah, but I think it's my fault that your face is completely red now, though." Yamamoto smirks. Gokudera notices the sharp glint in the swordsman's dark brown eyes that tells him exactly what he is thinking right at that moment, which causes him to blush even more. He throws the towel to the other boy's face to break the latter's gaze and starts walking towards the door.

"Stop thinking about nasty things, you perverted idiot. We've kept the Tenth waiting long enough. This mansion isn't going to decorate itself, you know?" He says before leaving the amused boy behind.

Yamamoto grins. "I don't think I'm the only one thinking about nasty things, Gokudera!" He jokes as he lightly runs to catch up to the other boy. When he did, he casually drapes his arm over the bomber, who passively lets him, and laughs heartily as they both walk towards where the rest of their friends are, unaware of the pair of eyes watching them intensely from the shadows as the pair slowly moves away.

* * *

><p><em>Why has it become like this?<em>

The tenth Vongola boss worries silently, though one could clearly see the discomfort written all over his face. He looks down through the window to observe the happenings on the floor below. What started out as a party just for him and his friends became a full-blown Vongola-wide event. He watches various guys adorned in crisp, black suits roam around the floor, as guests wearing different and extravagant costumes began pouring in to the room. None of his friends can be spotted decorating the place anymore; they were escorted to their own rooms to have them change to more appropriate outfits. In their stead, he sees more people in suits, most likely low ranking mafiosos, putting up black curtains, carving pumpkins, hanging up cobwebs, setting up the tables and what not. And how could he possibly miss those two people working extra hard to clean up the glaring red stain left behind by the accident earlier.

_No wonder Reborn was so agreeable when I asked him to help with this party. He's probably planning to turn this event into something mafia-related again._

"There, Tsu-kun, it's done," his mother declares as she finishes fumbling with his necktie. "My, you look so handsome, just like your father~" She smiles adorably as she examines her son's appearance.

"Ehehe, thanks, Mom," he says as he scratches the back of his head sheepishly, a tinge of pink staining his cheeks. _And to even bring Mom to Italy with us... what exactly are you planning, Reborn?_

"So, are you ready to go now, no-good Tsuna?" He hears a small voice speak from behind him.

"Reborn!" He exclaims, and then drops his voice down to a whisper. "Mind telling me what's going on around here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" The baby says flatly. "This is part of your training as a mafia boss. A boss should know how to hold social gatherings decently, and should know how to deal with members of the family and his allied families properly."

"Sshh! Don't mention the mafia in front of Mom so casually!" He frantically gestures for his tutor to quiet down. He glances to his mother, who appears amused watching them talking, and breathes a sigh of relief when he notices that she didn't hear what Reborn just said. "And if this is for mafia training, why'd you have to drag Mom along with us?"

The Arcobaleno suddenly launches himself to Tsuna and lands a clean hit on his gut, causing the target to kneel to the ground, clutching his stomach in an attempt to ease the pain. "Stop asking stupid questions, Tsuna. Of course Maman should be here. She's part of the family. Besides, if she's not here with us, then who will take care of those brats?"

A little boy wearing a cow-patterned suit suddenly comes running into the room, and starts pulling on Sawada Nana's dress.

"Mamaaaaaan, Lambo-san is hungry! When do we eat?"

A little girl clad in Chinese garb enters the room as well, looking rather exhausted. "Lambo, don't run! You're gonna break something!"

Lambo spins around to look at I-pin, makes a face and sticks his tongue out at the girl, who frowns in return. He then turns back to Tsuna's mom and resumes pulling on her dress while wailing "I'm hungry, Maman, I'm hungry!"

The ever-patient woman picks up the tantruming boy, who immediately stops throwing a fit. "Alright, alright, we'll go get you something to eat, okay?" She smiles once again as she pats the head of the boy. She looks at I-pin and gestures for her to come over, and picks the little girl up as well when she did. "You, too, I-pin-chan." Carrying the two kids, she heads to the door, but turns back to Tsuna. "Come on, Tsu-kun, let's just enjoy ourselves. It's not everyday that we win a free trip to Italy from the lottery, you know?" She smiles one last time before exiting the room.

"Y-yeah..." was all Tsuna managed to say. _Ahh, I knew it. This is going to be troublesome after all..._He rubs his belly as he follows his mother downstairs.

* * *

><p>"Oh, Tsuna! There you are! We've been looking everywhere for you." A familiar voice calls out to him. The baseball player waves his hands and inquires, "Where'd everyone suddenly disappear to? And who are all these people?"<p>

"Ah, well, it's a long story," the Vongola boss scratches his head and points to Reborn. "Basically, it's all his fault."

Yamamoto laughs. "By the way, how's Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna asks the taller boy.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting, Tenth!" The person in question emerges from behind Yamamoto, and bows deeply to express his sincere apologies to his boss.

"Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna exclaims both in surprise and in embarrassment from being apologized to. "Y-your hair, it's still red," he mutters as he stares awkwardly at his self-proclaimed right hand man's now-crimson locks.

"The paint was too stubborn," Gokudera remarks, sounding extremely annoyed. "See, even they are having a hard time getting it out of the carpet," he says, directing their attention to the two men still working their butts off trying to eliminate the said substance from the said material.

"If he washed it any harder, all of his hair would've fallen off," Yamamoto adds, suppressing his laughter as Gokudera elbows him lightly in response.

"Waah, I'm really sorry, Smoking Bomb!" The Cavallone boss says almost tearfully, closing his eyes and clasping his hands together in front of his face as he lowers his head to bow. He peeks through one eye to watch the bomber's reaction. He doesn't look pleased.

_Oh man, this could get ugly._Tsuna thinks to himself as he anxiously watches the two Italians talk, or more like Dino apologizing repetitively and Gokudera being all smug and unyielding.

"Gather your guardians, Tsuna. We're formally starting this event." Reborn suddenly speaking broke Tsuna's train of thought.

"Ehh? What for?"

"Everything starts and ends only when the boss says so. So unless you officially start the party, nothing's going to happen," the little hitman explains. "You need your guardians around you to give that ambiance of legitimacy and superiority."

"We're going to get presented in front of the Vongola, Reborn-san?" Gokudera asks, his eyes brimming with anticipation. The Arcobaleno nods. "More or less."

"Alright!" he rejoices, clenching his fist to contain his excitement. It was then that he realized something.

"Oh shit." Gokudera looks at his hand, ring-less and bare. "I think I left my rings upstairs when I took them off before washing my hair," he supposes. "I have to go get them."

"Ah, I'll go with you, Gokudera," Yamamoto offers.

"No. You stay here and help the Tenth find the other guardians. I'll be right back," he replies as he runs off to look for his rings.

* * *

><p>"I know I left it around here somewhere," Gokudera says to himself as he crouches to peer through the underside of the table to check if his rings fell down there or something. No luck; plenty of dust bunnies, though.<p>

He scratches his head and tries to recall where he put them. It doesn't matter if he doesn't find all of his rings, but if he loses his Vongola ring, then that is an entirely different story. He wonders if someone has already taken the ring for himself.

"Fuck."

He rejects the scenario from his mind and continues to search for the ring. He rummages through the clothes he was wearing earlier, the ones Dino got splashed with paint, but finds nothing. He goes through the cabinets, but still finds nothing. He was getting pissed. More of impatient and worried, actually. How could he possibly have forgotten something as important as that? He sits on the bed, closes his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest. He is dedicated to finding that ring no matter what. He concentrates on gathering his thoughts so he could remember where the hell did he put them rings.

_"I thought I told you never to show your face to me during this time of the year."__  
><em>  
>He jumps up, surprised. He didn't quite hear what was said. He looks around the room trying to find the origin of the voice, which, like his search for his rings, was futile. There is no one in the room but him. He frowns.<p>

"Show yourself, goddamn it. If this is some stupid prank you're pulling to try and scare me, whoever you are, I'll fucking kill you," he threatens, pulling out a couple of dynamites out of nowhere.

There was silence. He scans the room one more time to confirm that he is indeed alone. Sure enough, no one else was there. He remembers what Yamamoto said to him earlier, "_Hey, Gokudera, do you believe in ghosts? They say this mansion is haunted, so maybe we could get to see a couple of them tonight since it's Halloween._"

"Yeah right, as if I'd believe that," he snorts as he sits back on the bed. He tucks his dynamites away in his hidden pockets. He feels something poking him from under the sheets. He pulls on the covers to find his rings, including his ever-important Vongola ring, neatly resting on the mattress. He breathes a huge sigh of relief as he picks them up and puts them on. He quickly returns to the ground floor, worried that they might start the festivities without him.

A man emerges from the shadows as soon as Gokudera leaves the room.

"_So, you're not him after all, huh_," the man says to himself, playing with a couple of small objects in his hand. He tosses them up in the air, and catches all of them with the same hand. "_Well, that's alright. You'll do fine as his substitute, Gokudera Hayato._"

The man tosses the small objects into the air again, and this time, lets them all drop to the floor, except one that he catches midair. He opens his palm and smirks at the item he holds: the storm Vongola ring.

* * *

><p>When Gokudera got back to the ground floor, everything was set. All of the guardians, including Hibari, were already gathered at the center, with Tsuna nervously holding on to a microphone, preparing for his speech.<p>

"Oi, Octopus head! Get on over here before Hibari changes his mind so we can start to the extreme!" The always energetic boxer practically screams at Gokudera who is just a couple of steps away.

"Keep it down, Lawn head," the storm guardian says as he walks towards the group, sounding mildly irked. "At this rate, even the dead will wake up from your _extremely _annoying voice."

"Ehh, but I thought you said you don't believe in ghosts, Gokudera?" Yamamoto languidly butts in, his head resting on his hands that are crossed behind it.

"I don't," he replies immediately. "Ghosts aren't real. But zombies, those are completely different things." The rain guardian bursts out laughing. "Pfft, Gokudera, you are so interesting," he manages to blurt out before returning to a fit of laughter.

"Stop laughing and fix your tie, baseball nut," Gokudera snaps back. "I won't always do it for you, you know." He eyes Yamamoto's shabby appearance angrily, causing the latter to raise his hands in concession. He messes with his necktie for a bit and then carelessly pulls hard, resulting in him looking more unpresentable that he was originally. The Italian rolls his eyes and unwillingly approaches the Japanese, who is grinning like a kid. He flicks his finger on the taller boy's forehead, causing him to flinch, and proceeds to salvage Yamamoto's suit. Afterwards, he turns to Tsuna and gestures for him to start speaking to the guests.

* * *

><p>Tsuna plops down to a seat looking quite drained and lazily fans himself. "Ahh, I'll never give another speech ever again in my life~ It's too troublesome~", he complains as he raises a glass of iced lemonade to his forehead to cool himself down.<p>

"That's impossible, Tsuna. A mafia boss should be articulate, and should always be present in social gatherings like this to give a speech," Reborn lectures his student.

"That's why I said I didn't want to be in the mafia!" Tsuna says in retaliation. He was going to say a couple more complaints, but he was too tired to even think about it. He slouches in his chair even more. He chugs his drink down, effectively emptying the glass. He lets out a long sigh.

"You did great, Tenth!" Gokudera praises his boss cheerfully. "Here, let me get you another glass," he offers as he takes the container away from Tsuna's hands before the latter could even start to protest. "Ah, Gokudera-kun, you don't have to," he faintly manages to say, but his right hand man had already started to move towards the buffet table.

Gokudera must have been in such a hurry that he fails to notice someone walk through his path. He collides with the person with such force that causes both of them to hit the ground hard. He curses as he stands up, then angrily faces the other person.

"Watch where you're going, will you!" He shouts, but his rage instantly disappears when he sees the person he bumped into.

The person awkwardly sitting on the ground was a frail-looking young woman with pale skin typical of Italians. She has long, wavy light chestnut brown locks that rest gently on her shoulders. She bows quickly at Gokudera as she apologizes in Italian. His eyes widened. Hearing her voice made his heart drop. There was something about this woman that made him feel strangely comfortable. Like her aura had a calming effect, similar to the sea. He can't help but feel horrible for treating this woman so badly.

"Ah, n-no, I'm sorry, that was my bad," he nervously apologizes in Italian as well, helping the woman get up. "Are you hurt?" he asks, and she shakes her head in reply. She says sorry one more time, this time while looking at Gokudera in the eyes, before excusing herself. He finds himself in one of those rare moments when the sharp-tongued Italian is at a loss for words. His eyes met dazzling emerald orbs that seemed to pierce right through his soul. He felt as though he was staring at his own eyes. His gaze follows the woman as she weaves her way through the crowd. A hand lightly taps his shoulder. His body jerks in surprise.

"Hey, you alright?" the swordsman asks as his eyes trail the departing figure as well.

"Yeah," he mutters under his breath.

"Someone you know?" The baseball player asks coldly, as his grip on the shorter boy's shoulders tightens slightly. Gokudera is taken aback by Yamamoto's tone and actions."No," he snaps back and looks up to glare at the taller boy, then falters when he sees how serious the other boy's expression is. The usual smile on his face was oddly missing. His eyes were burning with something akin to rage as he continues to stare intensely at the distance. Gokudera has only seen Yamamoto look like this when he gets really angry about something, or when he's fighting for his life. This time, it's obviously not the latter, so he wonders what could have possibly ticked off this happy-go-lucky kind of guy.

"Good. Don't come near her again, okay?" Yamamoto finally says, reverting back to his usual cheery self, breaking the tension between them. Gokudera stares at him questioningly. "I don't like seeing you being nice to other girls when you're so mean to me, okay?" he embarrassedly admits as he glomps on the Italian.

"Go die," Gokudera spits out but doesn't finish what he wanted to say. _You liar, that's obviously not enough reason for you to get mad like that._He glances back at the direction of where the female was headed. She was no longer in sight.

* * *

><p><em>This is so fucking boring. <em>

Gokudera looks at the ceiling and breathes deeply. Then he looks back at the crowd of about eight people, most of them girls, talking to him, asking him questions and complimenting him. He could hardly even process what they are saying because: one, they're practically talking all at the same time, and two, he's totally not interested in what they have to say.

_Why must Reborn-san even tell us to __"socialize"__, anyway?_ He glances at Yamamoto who is on the other side of the room, in the same situation he is in. But unlike him, the rain guardian seems to be actually enjoying talking to the people around him, casually laughing every now and then. As expected. He clicks his tongue and lets his eyes wander off from the baseball player. His gaze lands on Tsuna, who is also in the middle of a crowd, but his is mostly made up of middle-aged men, possibly mafia bosses themselves. _If they do anything to the Tenth, I'll blow their asses up!_He thinks to himself as he clutches the dynamites he has hidden away.

As he was glaring at the people crowding around his boss, a woman passes by his line of sight. He blinks, then he realizes it was the woman he crashed into earlier. She turns her head and meets his gaze, and offers him a sweet smile. His heart nearly stopped. He looks away, embarrassed, but continues to watch her inconspicuously. She approaches the quintet, who are currently taking a break from playing their music, talks to the pianist, who then gestures for her to take the piano bench.

She sits in front of the piano and lifts the cover, and her fingers began their elegant dance on the keys, producing a gorgeous and nostalgic melody. Now more interested than ever, Gokudera excuses himself from the people around him and slowly makes his way to the female pianist. Every single note he hears seems to hit a nerve in his brain, conjuring memories from his dark, painful past. It was agonizing: the feeling of wanting to remember something, but couldn't; the feeling of seeing something but only vaguely; the feeling of extending your hand out to something but you cannot reach it. He stands behind the pianist with his eyes closed, immersing himself into the music, which is nearing the _fine_. It goes into _diminuendo_; she hits the last remaining notes until finally, the music ends. He opens his eyes.

"That was Ralph Vaughan William's_ A Sea Symphony_, wasn't it?" he casually asks.

"Yes," she replies. "That was the second movement, _On the Beach at Night, Alone_to be exact," she continues without turning around to face the young man. "I'm surprised you know it. No one ever does."

"I used to hear it a lot back when I was still learning how to play the piano," he explains. "That was my piano teacher's favorite piece," he bitterly adds.

"It's my favorite, too," she happily mentions. "It's a song about a mother and her child; it speaks about their bond, that they will always be connected despite distance, time, and even death," she pauses, then turns around to look directly at Gokudera. "I used to play it to my son, hoping to get the message across."

They stare at each other's eyes for a couple of seconds. Gokudera narrows his in confusion as he contemplates on the woman's last statement. She continues speaking.

"You see, I only get to see him a couple of times a year, only when his father permits it. He doesn't even know I'm his mother, and his father does everything to prevent him from knowing. So I tried to tell him through the music." She speaks each word with spite. She opens her mouth to to say more, but she stops as Gokudera slams his hand on the piano keys, making the instrument produce a rather anguished sound. He pins her between himself and the piano, angrily stares down on her and, with every self-restraint he has, simply asks, "Who exactly are you?"

The woman scoffs. She meets his striking green orbs with her now pale blue eyes, smirks and smugly says, "I think you already know, _Hayato_."

"Fuck you!" The storm guardian explodes in rage. He lunges at the woman who has started backing up, but someone restrains him from behind. He didn't need to turn around to know who that person is.

"Let go of me, Yamamoto!" He shouts as he exasperatedly watches his target escape. He wriggles from the taller boy's grasp in an effort to break loose, but to no avail.

"Calm down, Gokudera!" He says as he struggles with all his might to prevent the enraged Italian from lashing out. Tsuna and the others start to approach them as well. "What's going on, Gokudera-kun?" He asks worriedly as he runs to his friends.

At that moment, it seems as though Gokudera couldn't hear anything other than the pounding on his temples as blood rushes to his head. He sees the woman almost at the exit of the room, but before leaving, she gives him a quick glance and sneers. Frustrated, he manages to free his right hand, and when he did, he spins on his heel and lands a solid punch right on Yamamoto's face, knocking him down. He looks into the baseball player's amber eyes as though apologizing then rushes off to pursue his target.

"Y-Yamamoto!" Tsuna panics. "A-are you okay?" He glances to the departing Gokudera, then back to the hurt Yamamoto, then back to the direction his right hand man headed to, not knowing who to worry about first.

"Tsuna," the rain guardian starts as he wipes off the blood from his mouth, "Gokudera, he," He hesitates. "He was crying."

"There was a mixture of anger, sorrow and confusion in his eyes," he explains as he gets up. "In any case, that woman must've said something rather extreme to make him react like that. I'm going after them," he announces as he heads for the door.

"Ah, I'm coming, too," the Vongola boss says, following his childhood friend. A microphone suddenly comes flying and hits him square at the head. "Ouch-! What the?"

"You're staying here, Tsuna," Reborn says, appearing out of nowhere. "A mafia boss should let his subordinates deal with problems like this. Also, he should know how to pacify a distraught crowd," he lectures, pointing to the guests in the room. Tsuna winces at the implication. His tutor smirks. "Time for another speech."

* * *

><p>Gokudera finds himself in the room where he left his rings earlier after pursuing the woman, who is currently sitting smugly on the bed with her arms and legs crossed, as though waiting for him. "Took you long enough," she remarks.<p>

"Shut up and drop the disguise," he retorts harshly. "My mother's image doesn't fit you at all," he bitterly spits out.

"Nufufu, but I think I pulled her off quite well, don't you?" The woman becomes enveloped in indigo mist. When it clears, she is no longer there. In her stead stands the Vongola's first generation mist guardian, Daemon Spade. He smirks at the current storm guardian who is staring at him, unfazed.

"My mother didn't have such a nasty expression, asshole," he growls.

Spade gives him an amused look. "Oh, but you didn't even realize it was me until the very last minute." He moves towards Gokudera, who steps back. "Your rain guardian was surprisingly sharp, though. You should've listened to him at the very start, huh?" He moves another step forward; Gokudera tries to move back, but couldn't. He looks to his feet, which are apparently chained to the ground. He curses.

"Illusionists are so fucking annoying." He rolls his eyes and throws a couple of small bombs to his feet, which broke the chains when it all exploded. He jumps back a couple of feet from Spade, and pulls out a handful of sticks of dynamite. "Also, I think you're giving that baseball nut too much credit." He throws his weapons at the mist guardian, who didn't even flinch. Pillars of lava suddenly erupted in front of him, consuming all of the explosives before they even reach the target. "He's more stupid than he appears to be, you know?"

"Hoohh, how cruel," Spade comments as he sends three spinning blades flying towards the bomber. Gokudera avoids the first two cleanly but gets cornered to a wall. He ducks to dodge the final blade at the last second, missing him by a hair. He pants heavily as the illusionist slowly moves towards him. He dashes to the left, trying to escape, but a fourth blade comes whizzing through his path, blocking his route.

"Fuck this." He pulls out his Vongola box and clicks his ring on it to open it. Nothing happens. Spade explodes in laughter.

"Even though you said that, I think you're the dumber one, Gokudera Hayato." The storm guardian tries again. Still, nothing happens. He watches in horror as his Vongola ring crumbles into dust. He looks at the mist guardian in confusion.

"Silly boy, didn't you know Vongola boxes can only be opened by Vongola rings?" he snickers as he pompously shows off the storm Vongola ring he has in his possession.

"Bastard, when did you..." He pauses as realization sinks in. _Shit, he must've switched them when I accidentally left the rings here earlier._He fails to notice Spade close in on him.

"See, you really are slow, in more ways than one," the illusionist whispers into Gokudera's ear as he pushes the bomber down. He tries to shove Spade away but the latter already had him pinned down. He's already too fatigued and doesn't have enough strength left to retaliate.

"What the fuck do you want from me?" he breathes exhaustedly. The man on top of him shrugs.

"Nothing, really." His response made Gokudera pop a vein. "However," the mist guardian continues, running his hand through the silverette's currently scarlet hair and yanks it hard, "you remind me of someone I loathe with a passion." He then lets his fingers slide down across the bomber's cheek, down to his neck, causing the person underneath him to shiver. "You're only missing his mark right here."

Gokudera's eyes widened when he sees Spade's hand ignite into flames. "Let's fix that, shall we?" The illusionist smirks as his literally burning hand reaches for Gokudera's face.

A cry of agony echoes through the walls of the mansion.

* * *

><p>"Gokudera!" Yamamoto bursts into the room, nearly breaking down the door. He finds the storm guardian sprawled on the floor, panting and sweating heavily, his face contorted with pain, while Daemon Spade sits comfortably on a chair a few feet in front of Gokudera, his head resting on his hand, looking tremendously amused.<p>

"Get out of here, idiot," the bomber manages to say in between breaths. The swordsman completely ignores his words and walks straight in front of him with his back facing the latter and with Shigure Kintoki already drawn out and pointed towards the mist guardian.

"See, I told you he'd come," Spade calls out to Gokudera. "Too bad, Hayato~" he playfully says as he snaps his fingers. The man lying on the ground starts to moan and writhe in pain. Yamamoto loses it, and, clenching his sword tightly, lunges towards the inducer of Gokudera's anguish. "S-stop it!" the Italian wails.

_Shigure Soen Style, First Offensive Stance,Shajiku no Ame! _

The Japanese thrusts his sword straight at the gut of the illusionist, who didn't even dodge, much less defend himself. Yamamoto looks up, his eyes widening as he sees Gokudera at the receiving end of his sword, coughing up blood. He quickly retracts his sword and catches the falling Italian before he hits the ground. "Idiot... I told you to stop, didn't I?" the injured boy says weakly.

"Gokudera... Gokudera!" Yamamoto shakes him back and forth, trying to keep the other boy awake. The body in his hands falls limp. He swings his sword to the right.

"Hoohh, not bad, Yamamoto Takeshi," Spade says as he blocks the rain guardian's blade with his own. He looks over at Gokudera. "Seems like I'm right again," he says, "He could tell the illusions apart from reality."

"Not really," the swordsman replies. "Let's just say I have more experience when it comes to dealing with illusionists than Gokudera has," he says as he returns to his attacking stance. "Rather than relying on my senses, I trust on my instincts; they haven't failed me yet."

"In other words, he doesn't use his brain. He's just lucky that he's stupid," Gokudera jokingly adds as he scrambles to get himself up. "That means I was right. Now we're even."

The mist guardian snorts. "Well, if that's the case, then it's fine. That simply means neither of you can beat me now." A large number of roots starts sprouting from all directions and heads towards the two current guardians of Vongola. Yamamoto rushed towads Gokudera, who is still unable to move as freely as he could.

_Shigure Soen Style, Seventh Defensive Stance, Shibuki Ame!__  
><em>  
>Yamamoto swings his sword around and slices all the incoming threat. As soon as he was sure all the roots were gone, almost immediately, the swordsman releases Kojirou and heads for the mist guardian, who quickly sidesteps to avoid the rain guardian's assault. He fails to take into consideration the possibility of the storm guardian attacking as well. The rocket bombs he threw as soon as the swallow got out of the box begins to turn midair, some heading towards a completely different direction, others actually heading towards the intended target. As the illusionist focuses on blocking the impact of the explosions, the Japanese was already behind him, ready to slash.<p>

_Shigure Soen Style, Tenth Offensive Stance, Scontro di Rondine!_

A wall of water hits Daemon Spade before Yamamoto connects with his sword. He scowls in dismay as the swordsman's strike completely engulfs him. The illusionist disappears, and a small object drops from the air. Gokudera immediately grabs the object, his storm Vongola ring, before it hits the floor. The excess water from Scontro di Rondine falls down like rain on the two boys. The Italian droops to the floor with relief.

"Glad that's over with," he mutters as he stretches his body as he lies on the ground. The Japanese plops down beside him at his right and lets out a deep breath.

"Don't be too sure about that," Spade grumbles as he squats on the other side of Gokudera, who sits up and backs away in reflex. The two boys stare at him in shock. "Seriously, you thought a strike like that could vanquish me?" He asks as though that was the stupidest thing he has ever heard. He sneers.

Yamamoto grabs his katana and grips it tightly. Gokudera is too surprised to even try to move away from the illusionist as the latter reaches for the bomber. Another hand swats Spade's hand away.

"Leave my successor alone already, Spade," a man with crimson hair and a flame tattoo on his right cheek scolds the mist guardian, who glares at him. "What are _you_doing here?" the mist guardian spouts.

G points to the storm Vongola ring now in the possession of Gokudera. "The rain guardian's flames neutralized your seal," he explains. "Now get lost. I'm the only one allowed to torture this guy," he says nonchalantly as he drapes his arm over his successor's shoulder and pats his head.

The bomber angrily looks at Primo's right hand man but doesn't say a word. Spade rolls his eyes and crosses his arms in front of his chest. "What about our deal? You know you're not supposed to appear before me during this day," he vexedly says.

The first generation storm guardian gestures to the wall clock and says flatly, "It's past twelve already, idiot. Deal's off."

Spade clicks his tongue in annoyance, but yields. "Fine," he grumbles. "I had fun with _your_successor anyway," he says with spite. He turns to Gokudera and grins. "Bye-bye, Hayato~ Let's play again, okay?" He says cheerfully as he waves his hand back and forth.

"Don't count on it, asshole," Gokudera spits out. The mist guardian laughs as his image slowly thins and becomes transparent, until he completely vanishes. The current storm guardian turns to the previous one and grumpily says, "Mind telling me what the fuck was that all about?"

"He's just ticked off that I sent him to work during Halloween before," he explains tediously. "He complained to Giotto saying he doesn't want to work on his favorite holiday and our idiotic boss actually let him." He rolls his eyes. "I kept giving him paperwork during this time, though." He scoffs and smirks triumphantly.

Yamamoto bursts into a fit of laughter, almost literally rolling on the floor while laughing. Gokudera is too dumbfounded to even snap back at the ridiculous story he just heard. "So it's all your fault? I went through all of that just because of that stupid reason?" he says, flabbergasted.

G shrugs. "Nobody told you to dye your hair to look like me, brat," he says uninterestedly, twirling the bomber's locks with his fingers. "Do you really idolize me that much?" He kisses the boy's hair and sneers before promptly vanishing, his flame returning to the storm Vongola ring.

Gokudera can feel his blood rising to his cheeks. He grabs the ring and screams at it. "Who the fuck would? And don't run away while I'm talking to you, coward!" He notices Yamamoto, still lying on the floor, laughing, and kicks him in the gut in annoyance. He plops beside him and sighs.

"I'm surrounded with idiots."


End file.
